Do You have the Heart of a Berean

Introduction

In the last message, we looked at a group of Jews who were moved by envy to reject Paul’s message and to persecute him. They even went so far as to chase him down in an off the beaten path city. Paul and Silas are sent away from Thessalonica to the town of Berea. Most likely this city was chosen because Berea was not on the main road to Rome that Paul had been travelling: the Via Engatia. This little detour sets him up to go to Athens instead of directly to Rome on this missionary journey.

As usual Paul goes to the synagogue again to preach to the Jews first. Vs 10 makes a contrast when it says these were more noble that those in Thessalonica. Sometimes I don’t think we put two and two together when we read this text. We assume that this verse is speaking about the Christians in Berea, but Luke is actually making a statement about the lost Jew. These- refers to the Berean Jews and the those refers to the Jews of Thessalonica. Luke makes a value statement about them by saying they were more noble. What is he saying exactly about these Jews?

The word comes from a word meaning well-born but it speaks of having high or elevated character. Last week we asked “what’s wrong with these people?” Our answer was that they were jealous, but another answer could have been that they were deficient in their character.

Character is important for Christians to have. When we use the word this way, Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines it as moral excellence or firmness. Character is doing the right thing and now wavering from it. When every one else s going the wrong way you stick with what is right. It is being committed to doing the right thing.

We can draw this conclusion then that people who do not honestly listen, evaluate and then make decisions based on what they hear lack character. As we look at the Bereans, Luke says they are more noble because they did three things and if we want to be men and women of character, we will do these three things as well.

Receive the Word

They received the word with all readiness of mind-

A. Received the word- The meaning of the word received in this text is accepted. These Jews did not approach the word of God with a negative, critical or overly skeptical mindset. Sometimes this is the impression we are left with when people teach on this passage: We come away thinking you should be looking for errors in everything you hear so you can write people off if they say something you don’t personally agree with. That is not the teaching of this passage and if we are ever going to follow the example of the Bereans, we must start here.

They accepted the words of God through the mouth of the apostle Paul. Some people have made entire ministries out of just nit picking everything wrong with every other preacher. I am going to let you in on a truth, no preacher is ever 100% all the time. We are continually learning, growing, studying. God is continually teaching us new things. But if your overall perspective on preaching is to be constantly looking for something to condemn then you are in sin. And you are missing out on what God is trying to say to you today.

Is it possible that I give an illustration that you don’t like or doesn’t make the point very well? Yes, but the scriptural point I am trying to make is still from the bible. Some people get so consumed with having every message align with their pet doctrine, or making sure everything was worded just the way they want it to be worded. Some people can’t accept that some people just see things differently and so they get distracted by their criticisms and miss out on the message God has for them.

These unsaved Jews didn’t approach the preaching with an overly critical, negative mindset.

Paul speaking of the believers in Thessalonica praised God.

1 Thess 2:13 “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

They received the apostolic word as God’s word. To Corinth, he would write:

1 Cor 2:13 “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

Now understand I am not claiming that everything I say should be received as the Word of God, but the apostolic message as found in scripture should be received as the Word of God. If what I say has the backing of scripture to it, my attitude should be one of acceptance.

B. With all readiness of mind- The phrase readiness of mind speaks of good will or eagerness. These people hungered for the word of God. They wanted to hear from God. It wasn’t just a habit for them. They wanted to know the truth. How eager are you to learn something from God? Are you eager to even have him point out areas where you aren’t doing right, changes that need to be made? These Jews are hearing a message that is going to dynamically change their lives. They were not afraid of that change. They were not standoffish about what they were being told. They were eager to hear what God said because if God wants you to change, you should want to change. If God wants you to learn something, you should want to learn what He is trying to teach you.

Test the Word

But this isn’t just blind acceptance of the message of the preacher either. They weren’t unfair and unjust. They weren’t overly critical and negative but they did evaluate the teaching.

A. Daily-To understand something about what is happening here we must understand something about the culture of this time. People did not have individual copies of scripture until the bible was mass produced during the reformation with the invention of the printing press. Each synagogue maintained one copy of the scriptures. Books were expensive to make because every letter had to be written by hand with care. The Jews were so carful that if there was a mistake found they burnt that copy. Every time they would write the name of God, they would change pens and throw the quill away. Only the rich had access to books, so one copy was to be created for every synagogue. To access the word of God they had to go to their church. So when it says they searched the scriptures daily that meant they were going to their synagogue every day to get the answers they needed. This was a group exercise in a way.

American culture has evaluated individuality so much that everyone thinks they are an expert on everything. So if what you say disagrees with my own personal opinion or interpretation, I reject you. One author pointed out that “underlying this perspective is that one’s individual (closet?) interpretation of Scripture is the final measure and arbiter of the truth”: It is as if we were saying “If your teaching coincides with my reading (of the Bible), then I’ll support you; if not, then I will look elsewhere, or start my own church.”

B. Searched- The Greek word here is anakrino which is related to the word for judge, but it means to hear a case or investigate by asking questions. Searching the scriptures here is not the picture of going home and pulling out my bible to try and find something wrong with what the preacher said. Searching the scriptures is the idea of hearing a case and then asking the preacher questions. Again remember they are still at the synagogue. So let me give you a likely example of what this looked like:

Paul: Messiah must suffer and die for the sins of the People.

The Jews: Paul, you say that Messiah must suffer and die. Where do you find that in scripture?

Paul: Is it not written in Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.”

The Jews: But then what about the prophecies that say He must rule such as Psalm 2:7-9 “I will declare the decree: The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, And I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Paul: This same Jesus whom the Jews have crucified will come again and rule over His Kingdom.

You see their method of searching the scriptures was not sitting at home criticizing and disagreeing with the preacher because you don’t see it that way. Their method of searching the scripture was to ask questions of the preacher because they didn’t understand and they honestly wanted to study it out.

As believers we are told to do the same thing. Pastor Karsies has been teaching on this in Sunday school so I wont go into depth on the first passage, but lets turn to:

1 John 4:1-8 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

In this passage, you try the prophets by comparing their message with orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is sound biblical doctrine. We know and hold certain truths to be unquestioned such as the deity of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, the sinfulness of mankind, salvation by grace through faith ect. These doctrines are the key stones of our faith and to deny them is to deny the faith. If a man preaches that salvation is by works and faith, that man is a false prophet and we reject him. Test in this verse comes from a word used for determining the purity of a metal. We want to see if their message is true, if it is pure.

Paul told the Thessalonians the same thing.

1 Thess 5:20-21 “Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”

1. Paul challenges them first of all to despise not prophesyings. This is essentially the same thing the Bereans did in point one. They accepted it eagerly. They did not stand off and assume it is guilty until proven innocent.

2. But He goes on to tell them to Prove all things- this is the same point we are talking about here. Test the message.

3. Hold fast to that which is good- is basically the same thing as our third point so we will come to that later.

C. the scriptures

Notice that the authority which they compared the teaching with was the bible. As Baptists, we believe in what is called Biblical Authority.

1. These Jews didn’t compare the message with their own opinions. A lot of us reject the preaching of the word of God because we do not like what it says. This is nothing more than rebellion against God. We have established that we are our own authority and we get to decide what we will think and do.

2. They didn’t compare the message with culture- Many have rejected the teaching of scripture because it doesn’t line up with what is culturally practiced in America. I think of the LGBTQ issue. We redefine scripture to align with our culture. Others reject scripture because it doesn’t align with the tradition of their church or what we have always done. This is again rebellion because we have set another framework of thinking above scripture.

3. They didn’t compare the message with the opinions of author rabbis even. We all have our favorite preachers and I am not deluded enough to think I could even compare to them. There are so many smart, gifted preachers out there. But no matter how gifted and smart a preacher or teacher is, they are not the authority to determine our faith and practice. This doesn’t mean I don’t listen to other men, but everything I hear or think must be submitted to God’s authority. Those other voices are only secondary to the authority of God’s word.

The Bereans were not more noble because they read their bibles every day at home though that is good. They were more noble because they listened to the preaching, they asked questions about it, they listened as scriptures were opened to them and finally they believed.

Believe the Word

Therefore many of them believed- Because they were willing to listen and because they asked questions, the result is many of these Jews believed on Jesus Christ as their savior. They didn’t just receive the word, they made it theirs.

When we hear the word of God what do we do with it? It isn’t enough to just think “Oh, thats a good thought or I like that.” The bible is meant to change our lives: it must be applied to our lives. When I get up here and preach the word of God, are you asking the Spirit to show you what He wants you to do about what has been preached? When the invitation is given are you making a commitment to follow through with what the Spirit has shown you. I ask you to come forward because that act is a step toward deciding you are going to act on what you have heard.

James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” If you do not apply Scripture to your life, you are lying to yourself. Deceiving your own selves it says. We deceive ourselves that we don’t need the message. We deceive ourselves that we are already good in this area. We deceive ourselves in thinking that we are already spiritually perfect.

James 1:23-24 “For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” Uses a word picture to illustrate this truth. The person who doesn’t apply the word, doesn’t act on what it says is like:

That teenage boy who has just discovered deoderant wakes up one morning. He gets up throws his shirt on, looks in the mirror and sees that his hair is sticking up all over the place. Rather than fix it, he heads out the door to school thinking that he looks pretty cool. By the way guys, it doesn’t look cool; it just looks lazy. He saw the problem, but he didn’t do anything about it.

These Jews heard the word and then they obeyed that message. Individually, they had to make a choice to believe, to place their faith in Jesus Christ. If you are here today, and you do not know that your sins are forgiven by God. If you do not know for sure that you are on your way to heaven when you die, It isn’t enough just to hear the message, the gospel. You must respond to it.

These Jews heard that they were sinners condemned to hell because of their sin. Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

But they also heard that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, died for their sins so they could be healed. Isaiah 53:5-6 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way; And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

They heard that message and were told that by placing their faith in the Messiah their sins would be forgiven. Acts 16:31 “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

And they followed through, they did that.

Conclusion:

Heads bowed, Eyes closed In a minute we will have the invitation. How many of you would say, Pastor Shirk, I can be too critical towards the preaching and teaching of the word of God? Would you raise your hands this morning. How many would say, Pastor, I’m not too critical but I don’t dig into the word myself to see if something is true? Would you raise your hands? How many would say, Pastor those aren’t really my issues, but I struggle with doing or responding to what I have heard? Would you raise your hands this morning.

As the piano plays you have a choice to make are you going to step out and act on what you have heard today. Decide from now I want to be like the Bereans.

If you are not saved, you can step out and come talk to me. We will have someone take you to another room so you can know that your sins are forgiven and that you are on your way to heaven. Will you come?